Image courtesy of Colin Boocock, C.Eng., F.I.Mech.E.
A direct LINK To LONDON
The Midland Railway
The railway between Derby and Manchester was built in stages, by several different railway conmpanies. The first part of the line between Derby and Ambergate was opened in 1840. The line was then extended to Rowsley, which opened in 1849. It was not until 1867 that the railway was completed, and trains were able to run between Derby and Manchester.
This meant the Midland Railway Company could run express trains from St Pancras in London to Manchester Central. Every day an express service called the Palatine started in Manchester, and its counterpart, the Peaks Express started in London, with stops at Millers Dale and Matlock.
These express services continued after nationalisation in 1948, and British Rail also introduced the luxury Midland Pullman service, with its striking blue trains, which ran from 1960 – 1966.
A short-sighted report into the declining revenues and numbers of passengers on Britain’s railways, known as the Beeching Report, was published in 1963.
Devastating nationally, the effect on the Peaks and Dales line was the phased withdrawal of passenger services from the route between 1964 and 1967. Some freight services continued during this period, as the Beeching Report had recommended.
The line was eventually closed by the then Minister for Transport, Barbara Castle, in 1968.